Norfolk, Virginia in 2013: 52 Courts-Martial, Year in Review
Norfolk, Virginia tried 52 courts-martial in 2013. Larceny under Article 121 was charged in 25% of cases, compared with 20% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Full acquittals came in 29% of contested cases that reached a verdict (5 of 17), lower than the 35% service-wide.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Norfolk, Virginia › 2013
Short answer: Norfolk, Virginia tried 52 courts-martial in 2013. Larceny under Article 121 was charged in 25% of cases, compared with 20% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Full acquittals came in 29% of contested cases that reached a verdict (5 of 17), lower than the 35% service-wide.
Larceny Cases and Their Outcomes
Larceny charges were a larger share of Norfolk's 2013 cases than of all Navy and Marine Corps cases. Article 121 (larceny) was charged in 12 cases, or 25% of the 48 with charge lists, compared with 20% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Almost all of those cases ended in a guilty plea and a conviction. Cases charging Article 121 ended in a guilty plea 91% of the time (10 of 11), the most among the top charges. All 12 ended in a conviction on that article (100%). The median confinement for a larceny conviction was 5 months.
Other Charges
Article 128 (assault) was the most common charge, in 17 cases (35%), about the same as the 38% service-wide. Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) was charged in 12 cases, the same number as larceny: 25%, compared with 22%.
Article 107 (false official statements) was charged less often than elsewhere: 12%, compared with 17%. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) and Article 134, the general article, were each charged in 9 cases (19%). Each article counts once per case, so one case can appear in several rows of the table.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 17 | 35% | 38% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 12 | 25% | 20% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 12 | 25% | 22% |
| Art. 134 General article | 9 | 19% | 17% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 9 | 19% | 22% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 6 | 12% | 17% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 4 | 8% | 12% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 3 | 6% | 7% |
Contested Cases and Verdicts
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Of 51 records listing a plea, 17 were not-guilty or mixed pleas and 34 were guilty pleas. The contested share was 33%, compared with 32% service-wide. Navy and Marine Corps records from before December 2020 often omit the plea, so these shares use only the records that include one.
All 17 contested cases reached a verdict. Full acquittals came in 29% of them, lower than the 35% in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. Another 7 were partial acquittals: not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another.
Conviction Rates by Article
Assault cases were contested more often than larceny cases. Cases charging Article 128 ended in a guilty plea 47% of the time (8 of 17). They also had the lowest conviction rate on the charged article among the top charges: 15 of 17 (88%). The median confinement was 2 months.
Article 134 cases ended in a conviction on that article in 9 of 9. Their median confinement, 1.3 years, was the longest among the top charges. Article 92 ended in a conviction in 11 of 12 (92%), with a 4-month median. One case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so these rows overlap. The records do not say why an accused pleaded guilty or not guilty.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 17 | 15 (88%) | 2 months |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 12 | 12 (100%) | 5 months |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 12 | 11 (92%) | 4 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 9 | 9 (9 of 9) | 1.3 years |
Most Sentences Were Under 6 Months
There were 47 cases with a conviction on at least one charge, and 44 of those sentences included confinement (94%). The median was 5 months, about the same as the 6 months service-wide. A quarter of sentences were 1 year or longer.
Sentences under 6 months made up 27 convictions (57%), compared with 44% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Sentences longer than one year were adjudged in 8 of 47 convictions (17%), the same 17% as elsewhere. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each one covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 3 | 6% | 10% |
| Under 6 months | 27 | 57% | 44% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 9 | 19% | 29% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 7 | 15% | 13% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 2% | 4% |
Most Cases Were Special Courts-Martial
Only 19 of 52 cases were general courts-martial (37%). The other 33 were special courts-martial. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
Confinement was about equally common at both levels, but its length was very different. At general courts-martial, 94% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 1 year. At special courts-martial, 93% did, with a median of 3 months.
The accused were 28 junior enlisted members, 23 NCOs, and 1 officer. The group was more junior than the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole.
Punitive Discharges After a Conviction
Of 46 convicted enlisted members, 30 received a punitive discharge: 26 bad-conduct and 4 dishonorable. That 65% rate compares with 64% service-wide. The 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was dismissed. Without a punitive discharge, an administrative separation can still follow.
Norfolk, San Diego, and Jacksonville
San Diego, California (44 cases) and Jacksonville, Florida (20 cases) were the closest in size. Norfolk had the highest contested share, 33%, compared with 20% at San Diego and 15% at Jacksonville. Its 5-month median confinement was the shortest of the 3. San Diego had 6 months and Jacksonville 7 months.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norfolk, Virginia | 52 | 33% | 5 of 17 | 5 months | 65% |
| San Diego, California | 44 | 20% | 3 of 9 | 6 months | 54% |
| Jacksonville, Florida | 20 | 15% | 1 of 3 | 7 months | 67% |
What the Records Do Not Show
These trials were before the Military Justice Act of 2016, which took effect on January 1, 2019. The records cover only courts-martial, not nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or cases closed without action. They give trial dates, not offense dates, and do not describe the evidence or plea terms.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Norfolk, Virginia with a trial date in 2013 (52 cases).
Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in Military Trial Results, data updated October 24, 2026. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: how this data was built. Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.
Related Analysis
- Norfolk, Virginia: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Norfolk, Virginia: 2014 (previous / next)
- Norfolk, Virginia, 2013–2018: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 308 Cases (the whole period)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2015
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2017
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2018
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2020
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2021
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.